What does the face of tech look like?
When female engineer Isis Wegner was featured in a recruiting ad, it triggered a set of negative remarks on social media with people questioning whether she was truly a developer. After all, she didn’t fit the mainstream image of an engineer.
In reaction to the response, Isis published a Medium blog post titled “You Might Have Seen My Face on BART” and encouraged others out their who don’t fit the traditional engineer image to share their stories.
The hashtag took off and Hackbright alumna Michelle Glauser is now leading an Indiegogo campaign to fund billboards around San Francisco. The goal being to bring greater awareness to the different images of software engineers. In one day, she already surpassed her goal of $3,500.
The header picture we’ve posted above shows just a few women who graduated from Hackbright Academy – they’re all smart, inspiring and brilliant female software engineers creating things everyday. For the record, Isis, you definitely look like a software engineer to us.
Let’s update the image
At Hackbright Academy, we believe tech is for everyone and we see brilliant women of all backgrounds creating things everyday. We’ve updated a video featuring Hackbright Academy alumnae that completed our 10-week coding school and are now software engineers in companies such as SurveyMonkey, Eventbrite, Facebook and much more. These women are leading and developing the technology we use. These women are the face of tech to us. Watch them as they describe the stereotypes they’re used to hearing – and explain, more importantly, how they don’t fit that mold yet they’re empowering some of our favorite products everyday.
If you’re inspired by this, please consider donating to Michelle’s campaign as the more awareness we bring, the more underrepresented groups will feel like tech can be a home for them as well.
Hackbright Alumnae Share Their Stories with #ILookLikeAnEngineer
I’m female, wear pink and I’m pregnant. I’m also a full stack software engineer. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/3PV9BepNYy
— Jolene Hayes (@JCHayes) August 3, 2015
#ILookLikeAnEngineer all day every day y’all pic.twitter.com/Q0Z2NAMXIF — Stella Cotton (@practice_cactus) August 4, 2015
I love the Open Source community, programming in Python + learning about new technologies! 🙂 #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/s7jixh3LIU
— Viola O. (@violadolayinka) August 4, 2015
from artist to engineer. #ILookLikeAnEngineer @isisAnchalee @Hackbright pic.twitter.com/vREIPduuyn — rachelle dunn (@rchdnn) August 4, 2015
Be a catalyst for change
If you are an engineer and you defy the traditional image of a software engineer, share your story and be heard with #ILookLikeAnEngineer. If you’ve been inspired by all the women who are female engineers and have been interested in programming, then go for it. The face of tech is changing – and there is no reason why yours shouldn’t be included.
Want to do more? Hackbright is a proud sponsor for an upcoming #ILookLikeAnEngineer Community Gathering in San Francisco put together by Isis Wenger and Hackbright alumna Michelle Glauser. Come by and join a supportive community dedicated to changing the face of tech! Get tickets here.